Mother of Invention

A project of Twelfth Planet Press (see other related projects).

Permanently Closed: This project is permanently closed to submissions (August 2017). We provide the following information as an archive.

About

An ambitious anthology from award-winning Australian publishing house Twelfth Planet Press, Mother of Invention will feature diverse, challenging stories about gender as it relates to the creation of artificial intelligence and robotics. From Pygmalion and Galatea to Frankenstein, Ex Machina and Person of Interest, the fictional landscape so often frames cisgender men as the creators of artificial life, leading to the same kinds of stories being told over and over. We want to bring some genuine revolution to the way that artificial intelligence stories are told, and how they intersect with gender identity, parenthood, sexuality, war, and the future of our species. How can we interrogate the gendered assumptions around the making of robots compared with the making of babies? Can computers learn to speak in a code beyond the (gender) binary? If necessity is the mother of invention, what exciting AI might come to exist in the hands of a more diverse range of innovators?

Country of Publication

Australia

Publication Media & Frequency

Electronic Publication Electronic Publication: One-time publication
Print Publication Print Publication: One-time publication

Fiction Closed

Audience:

Open to a broad Audience, including: All ethnic groups/populations, All genders, Nonbinary people, All sexual identities, People with disabilities.

Genres:

Fantasy Open to all/most Subgenres, including: Science Fantasy, Supernatural
Science Fiction Open to all/most Subgenres

Lengths:

Flash Fiction: 500 - 1,000 words.
Short Story: 1,000 - 5,000 words.

Styles:

Open to all/most Styles, including: Mainstream.

Topics:

Sexuality/Gender: See guidelines.
Technology: See guidelines.
Other: See guidelines.

Payment:

Professional payment (5 or more US cents per word) Professional payment (5 or more US cents per word).
Note: We list broad pay categories rather than payment specifics. Check with the publisher for details.

Submissions:

Method: Electronic submissions.
Reprints: Reprints are NOT allowed.
Simultaneous submissions: Simultaneous submissions are NOT allowed.
Multiple entries: Multiple entries are NOT allowed.
Media: Text.

Always check guidelines for details and restrictions. If you aren't familiar with these terms, see our glossary.

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Mother of Invention Submission Statistics

The statistics in this section are compiled from submission reports sent to us through our submission tracker. They are not provided by the publication's editors/staff or by Duotrope's admins. Information in this section is updated a few times per day. Learn more about the statistics.

This listing is inactive and does not have any submission reports for the past 12 months.

Your Submissions

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Defying Doomsday CLOSED
Kaleidoscope Anthology CLOSED
New Ceres CLOSED
Rebuilding Tomorrow CLOSED

Shiny CLOSED
Sprawl CLOSED
Twelfth Planet Press Novella Series DNQ

Before Submitting

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Always read the full guidelines provided by the publisher.
Try to read at least one previous publication to get a better idea of what the editor would like to see.
Unless the publisher's guidelines state otherwise, always use industry standard manuscript formatting.
Be professional, patient, and persistent.

Dates

Last Updated: 22 May 2026